Kamil Furtun

A doctor was killed by a man, who also committed suicide, when she attempted to protect her secretary who was the attacker's ex-wife in the Black Sea province of Samsun on Nov. 19. 

Doctors in Turkey are opting out of specializing in medical fields that require surgery to be performed, amid a rise in violence against medical personnel with several surgeons killed in recent months. 

A Turkish Health Ministry official said 4,000 police officers would be deployed at major hospitals for the security of doctors and medical staff after the recent murder in a hospital of a doctor in the Black Sea province of Samsun fueled debates about violence against health officials in Turkey.

Doctors went on a nationwide strike for one day on June 1, as the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) announced late last week it was calling all its member doctors to go on a strike to protest the killing of Kamil Furtun, a thoracic surgeon who was shot dead while on duty on May 29 in a public hospital in the Black Sea province of Samsun.

The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) has announced that medical personnel around the country will halt all non-emergency services on June 1 over the killing of a doctor.

Dr. Kamil Furtun, 56, was shot three times by a 30-year-old man at a public hospital in the Black Sea province of Samsun on May 29.